When Death Comes Calling
by GuiltyPleasuresAndDeadlySins
Summary: What do we do now?" on of the team asked. The other agent looked at their leader, leaning against the wall. "We go back to the shadows," she told them. "Back to the watching. Back to the waiting. We go back to what we're good at." AU
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is not as depressing as it sounds, promise!! The summary is a bit of a teaser for things to come..._

_Also, this is an AU rewrite to 'Who Are We Now?' and AU!! (i.e. Tony's a woman). Erm...what else? Oh yes!!_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing!! This all belongs to whoever has the rights to NCIS (apart from the few OCs thrown into the mix, but they come from the same 'verse)._

_Summary: "What do we do now?" on of the team asked. The other agent looked at their leader, leaning against the wall. "We go back to the shadows," she told them. "Back to the watching. Back to the waiting. We go back to what we're good at."_

_Rated for language, but not sure what rating I should really give it._

* * *

It was late afternoon when the entrance to the club in the basement slammed open. NCIS Special Agents Jethro Gibbs and Kate Todd walked in. They walked over to where the club's manager was talking with one of her staff discussing arrangements for the night.

"It's Sapphire's night off right?" the employee was checking. The club manager nodded.

"Miss Antonia Caliento?" Gibbs asked. The Italian woman looked around.

"Who wants to know?" she challenged evenly.

Kate flipped her badge open. "I'm Special Agent Todd, this is Special Agent Gibbs, we're NCIS, investigating the murder of a Naval Captain."

"You better come up to my office then," Antonia decided. "This way."

She led them up a set of steps into the back and past a load of doors before finally reaching one at the end of the corridor. She opened the lock and gestured them inside.

"Take a seat," she offered as she took her own seat behind the desk and sorted through a few papers, she found something obviously important and frowned. She jotted a note down on a piece of paper before looking back at them, appraising them steadily. "What can I do for you?"

"Miss Caliento," the older man with grey hair spoke steadily, his manner screamed 'military' and 'marine'. "As we've said, we're here to investigate the murder of Captain Maria Reeves. What can you tell us about it?"

"Maria Reeves? Not ringing any bells I'm afraid…"

"She was seen coming into this club," the woman, a brunette who was probably ex-Secret Service told her.

"That doesn't mean I'll know her. Do you have a picture? I might know her face, I don't always get names when serving drinks. Sorry."

The woman produced a photo from a file and put it in front of her. Toni frowned.

"She might have been in here Friday…I think it was her, I'm fairly certain. Erm…she left with a guy…"

"Does this guy have an address?" the Marine leant forward.

"Sorry, that's another thing I don't make a habit of. Special Agent Gibbs, I run a bar and not a particularly exclusive one. We don't ask for addresses. I do know the guy's name is Grant Ryan, he's one of our regulars."

"Regulars? And you have no idea where he lives?"

Antonia rubbed her forehead, leaning one elbow on the bar. "Em…I think he mentioned something about being near the beach. That's all I remember. Sorry I can't be any more help."

"We may have more questions later," Agent Todd told her. She inclined her head.

"Well, you know where to find me, and if I'm not here one of the staff will be able to contact me." She rose as they rose and offered her hand. "I'm sorry about the Captain, my condolences to the family."

Kate's profiling instincts said that Antonia's condolences for the death of Captain Reeves were offered genuinely.

"Oh," as Gibbs left he turned back for a second. "Do you know anything about a drugs ring?"

Antonia's eyes widened slightly and her expression became outraged. "I know plenty, I keep calling the cops to move the dealers out of my club and off my doorstep, it's bad for business and I don't like people mixing drugs and drink, it's dangerous. Having people die inside your club isn't good. But aside from brush ins with those who dislike me having them moved on, I know nothing much else."

"Thank you for your time."

"Of course, it's the least I can do. Please, I have work to do, could you show yourselves out?"

"Of course Ms Caliento, we'll probably be in touch."

"Of course."

They left Antonia leant over her desk, eyes scanning paperwork.

"Well?" Gibbs asked Kate as they reached the car.

"I think she was telling the truth," Kate replied calmly. "She met our eyes with every line, seemed shocked about the Petty Officer's death, none of her lines sounded rehearsed, and she sounded truly sorry about not being able to help us."

"Some of the best liars in the world could do that."

"Chances of us finding one of them running a bar in a rough area of town?"

"Not improbable. Now come on, let's get back and see what the others have got us."

* * *

Toni's head hit the desk the minute the two Special Agents left. One hand reached for her cell, the other was blindly searching through the drawers of her desk for either a gun or alcohol, either sounded good.

"Toni?" a worried voice questioned on the other end of the line and Toni blinked.

"Sorry…" she mumbled, sitting back in her chair. "I just got some bad news."

"What?"

"Maria's dead."

"Fuck."

"You said it mate."

"What you going to do?"

"For now? Nothing, sit tight. They haven't connected her yet. They will eventually – and we have to be ready for when they do. They blow this open and we're all dead and you know it."

"Alright…I'm sure we can sort something out. Erm…how're you going to deal with them asking questions?"

"With my usual manner. They won't know anything's amiss. How can they?"

"You alright? I mean you and Maria were like sisters."

"I'll be fine. She was good, but we gotta deal without her now. I need to see you."

"You sure that's wise?"

"Nope, but it's got to happen anyway."

"Alright. When and where?"

"Tomorrow, the pier, usual time."

"I'll see you then."

"See you."

Toni hung up the phone and took a long pull from the bottle she'd found. Maria was dead – that was the only thought in her head. Maria was dead. She rubbed her forehead. It was getting harder every day to continue on with her life. The people she cared about just kept dying. Toni knew that she'd reach the end of her tether eventually and just snap. She was worried that that was going to be soon, if people kept dying, she was not going to be able to keep up her unbothered façade for much longer.

* * *

_Well? You like or not? Please review!!_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Chapter 2!! (And me hyper with my new laptop). Alright. All standard disclaimers apply. I think there's a few naughty words near the end...possibly before. If this is rated too low tell me and I will change it!! (I don't think it is though, it's just mild cussing from one or two of the characters)._

* * *

"What you got for me?" Gibbs asked McGee and Paula as he walked into the bullpen.

"Antonia Caliento owns Crimson," Paula replied offering their boss the folder on said club and person. "When she was nineteen she was arrested for B&E and charged, although she got away with probation and after that cleaned up her life and ended up as the 'successful' woman she is today. Her juvenile record's sealed, there's nothing else we can get on her apart from stats. All the people she's worked for have nothing but praise for her."

"You called them then?"

"Of course Boss, they loved her. To quote one of them 'The day Toni left was a sad day for my entire staff. We loved having her work for us'. They turned into saps the minute I mentioned her name."

"That bad?" Kate grimaced in sympathy. "Sounds bad."

"It was bad."

"Ouch."

"McGee?" Gibbs snapped breaking up the soon to become sympathetic conversation between his Senior Field Agent and Kate.

"Erm…" McGee stammered. He'd make a fine agent one day if he could get over his nerves. "I checked her school records – straight B's, apart from sport where she excelled. Apart from the fact that she maintained her GPA exactly – a highly unlikely occurrence – there's nothing unusual about her."

"And Captain Reeves's family?"

"We've located her brother," Paula took over. "A Dylan Reeves, he's coming in right now. It seems their parents died a few years ago."

"Good, is he aware why he's coming in?"

"I just told him that it involved his sister."

"Good."

"I'm looking for Special Agent Cassidy?" a voice behind them interrupted their conversation and they all turned to see a tall man stood, almost to attention behind them.

"That would be me," Paula stepped forward.

"Dylan Reeves, we spoke on the phone."

"Yes, thank you for coming in."

"You said it was about Maria?"

"Yes…" Paula looked across at Gibbs.

"Mr Reeves?" he asked stepping forward. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs, I'm afraid to have to inform you we're investigating your sister's murder."

Dylan Reeves stared and them and then gave a shake of his head as the look on his face turned sickly. "No…"

"I'm sorry."

"Maria can't be dead, she just can't be."

"Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt your sister?"

"No," Dylan rubbed his face. "Lord…"

"I know this is hard," Gibbs gestured for someone to get the guy a seat before he toppled over from shock. McGee obliged and Dylan sat down. "But what can you tell us about your sister's social life? Friends, family, boyfriends?"

"Uh…Most of her friends were in her unit. Our family's all dead. She…she had a boyfriend. Grant I think…"

"What was he like?"

"Um… I met the guy like once, we didn't get on, so Maria went out of her way to keep us apart."

"What else could you tell us about him?"

"He seemed like a complete and utter waster. I dunno, there was just something about him that I didn't like."

"Is there any reason why he'd want to hurt Maria?"

"Not that I can think of off the top of my head. Wouldn't surprise me if he had though."

"Why not?"

"Look, the guy was a jackass, I didn't like him, I've never made any secret of that, but my baby sister seemed happy with him, so I wouldn't interfere."

"Do you know where your sister would go for a night out?" Kate asked.

"A club…" Dylan frowned, obviously trying to pull the name to mind. "Crimson I think it was, a couple of others, never really asked her. Only know Crimson cause she took me there a couple of times."

Gibbs was surprised at how well this man was holding it together mere minutes after being told his sister was dead. But then again, Gibbs reflected, maybe that fact hadn't quite settled in on him yet. It would probably sink in later, when the man was at home and could safely cry out the fact that his sister was dead and not worry about people judging him. Dylan massaged his forehead slightly, leaning forwards to put his elbows on his knees, one hand supporting his chin. There was something in his eyes that seemed like a mirror of Gibbs' own eyes right after he'd lost Shannon and Kelly, completely and utterly dead, lost, not sure when to go next. A few more questions were asked before they had everything they needed for now and Gibbs allowed Dylan to leave. As he left he pulled out his phone and started to dial a number.

"Did he seem a little bit too calm about his sister's death to anyone else?" Paula asked.

Kate nodded, as did McGee.

"Probably just a coping method," Gibbs dismissed it offhandedly. "He'll break down out of sight of other people. Or with a few close friends."

The others watched him for a moment before being distracted by Abby bouncing up.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" she exclaimed, waving a piece of paper around like a mad woman. "Got it, got it, got it!"

"Calm down Abs," Gibbs put a hand on the excited goth's shoulder. "Now what do you have?"

"The bullet that killed Captain Reeves? Came from a .45 caliber pistol, now here's the thing. It's registered to a Grant Ryan."

"Grant Ryan who Ms Caliento says is a regular at Crimson," Kate stated as she took the piece of paper. "And possibly the 'Grant' who Mr Reeves says is his sister's boyfriend."

* * *

Dylan frowned at his phone almost petulantly. His first choice of lift hadn't answered which left him with choice number two.

"Dylan what's up?" his friend answered.

"I need a lift," Dylan replied, keeping his voice steady.

"Why?"

"Number one wasn't answering the phone."

"No, why do you need a lift?"

"Because if I try to drive right now, I'll crash, I don't have my helmet and you'd get killed for letting me drive."

"That doesn't answer the question Dyl…oh shit you know."

That shocked Dylan into silence. His friends had _known_ his sister was dead and not contacted him? "You knew Maria was dead and didn't contact me?"

"I tried Dyl, you weren't answering your phone."

"Well shit. Just come and pick me up, I'll go berserk and drive home if you don't."

"I'll be there in ten, just don't try anything stupid 'kay?"

"Won't."

The single word didn't actually sound convincing to either of their ears, but they let it slide and ten minutes later they were loading Dylan's bike into the back of a pick-up.

"I'm meeting her tomorrow," his friend offered an olive branch.

"And I'm going with you," Dylan's voice didn't leave room for arguments.

* * *

_And that's all folks!! Hope you enjoyed!!_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: So here it is, chapter three – yikes, I'm getting good at this rapid updating lark with this story, don't worry, I'll get to the point where my workload is too large to manage rapid updates, so I'm making up for it now!! Hope you enjoy…wait, there may be one or two 'naughty' words within this, if you are offended, I apologize._

* * *

Toni walked down the pier to where she was meeting her friend. To her surprise there were two figures there. One was sat on the end of the pier, looking out to sea, one knee hooked up to his chest, the other dangling over the edge. The second figure was leant against one of the support poles, arms over chest and legs crossed at the ankles.

For now, Toni ignored the first figure, it was the second figure that had her bothered. "What are you doing here Dyl?"

"Sitting," Dylan Reeves retorted harshly. "My sister's dead and you don't even have the good grace to tell me."

"I only just found out."

"You still should've called me as soon as you did."

"Dyl…you think this is easy on me? I lost Maria too."

"I just lost my fucking sister. The last damned member of my family!"

"Dyl calm down, Maria wouldn't want you to go all lone ranger on us. You know that."

Dyl's head fell forward and Toni could see the unusual tears in his eyes. "I know. It's just so damn hard sometimes. I mean…mom and dad are dead, Maria's dead, all I've got left is you guys, and I can't help but think, how long for? What we do is risky, and we all know it. Tomorrow it could be you, me, Mac. Anyone of us."

Toni sat down next to her friend and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, knowing it was the closest to comfort he'd accept off anyone. "We'll get through this. You know that. Okay Mac, your turn."

"Special Agent Gibbs," Mackenzie Hansom began listing facts. "NCIS, former Gunnery Sergeant. Good close rate on his cases. Lost his wife and daughter. Never truly recovered. Became an ice block – scuttlebutt says he killed their murderer."

"Wouldn't surprise me. The girl?"

"Special Agent Caitlin Todd. Fairly recent addition to the team, ex-Secret Service. Presidential detach. Raised Catholic, went to law school, left and got a degree in criminal profiling."

"Great. Profiler, that's just what we need."

"Like she'll be able to peg us down," Dyl nudged Toni. "We change our attitudes as quickly as she's likely to change clothes for a hot date."

"Pegged as a slut then?"

"Not so much a slut, just…I dunno, I don't like her."

"Why not?"

"Too nice."

Mac and Toni laughed at Dyl's strange way of explaining his dislike for someone. He couldn't care less if someone tried to kill him. He could deal with prejudice and dislike, but for some reason, if someone was overly kind to him, he took an instant dislike to them. He knew it was odd as much as they did, but still it persisted.

"Seriously, it wasn't human."

"Sure it was Dyl," Mac told him. "After all, most people are."

"Are we? Are any of us really human anymore? We kill for a living guys. Let's just face that fact here and now. We don't even know if we're doing it for the right reasons!"

"We have to hope we are," Toni responded. "We just have to keep hoping that what we're doing is the right thing."

"Maria died because of who we are. What we do. I know it. But I can't tell NCIS that because they wouldn't know what the hell I was on about. Because they wouldn't understand."

"Why should they? We don't advertise our existence."

"Is that all you needed Toni?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, for now."

"Erm…Paula Cassidy and Timothy McGee," Dyl said suddenly. "You might want to check up on them."

"Will do. I'm off. Doc wants to do a check up on me after my last run."

"What happened?"

"Don't worry Dyl, it's just routine."

Toni visibly saw Dyl relax. He was overprotective of all of them to a fault, looking out for them, almost before he looked out for himself. Toni had reamed him out for it enough.

"Alright Mac," she nodded to him. "We'll see you later. I'm taking Dy here out for lunch and then he's coming in to work and after that, all three of us are going to sit at my bar at some obnoxious hour in the morning and get smashed out of our minds in memory of Maria. Agreed?"

"I'll be there," Mac promised. "As always."

"See you later then Mac," Toni nodded. Dyl called his own farewell as Mac headed back up the pier to his car. Toni searched the road above for Dyl's bike, she didn't find it. "How'd you get here?"

"Mac gave me a lift," Dyl shrugged. "I called him to ask if he knew, turned out he did. So I persuaded him that giving me a lift down was the best thing he could do – otherwise, I'd try to drive."

"Guess that was a smart move, least you didn't try to drive. I was worried you'd driven over here without your helmet."

"I'm not that dumb Toni, even in this state of mind."

"Come on, let's go have lunch."

Toni stood up and Dyl pushed himself awkwardly to his feet. She frowned.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing," Dyl told her firmly. "Just been sat still for too long."

"Walking lunch then," Toni decided firmly. "You me, a couple of sandwiches and a nice walk in the park."

"Sounds good."

Toni slipped her hand into his as they headed back to her car. Right now, Dyl needed the comfort more than Toni cared about how it might look to the people around them. All she cared about right now was keeping her surrogate brother grounded. She couldn't let him lose control yet - later that night, when she, he and Mac were sat on the barstools in Crimson, drinking strong liquor and remembering Maria, that was the time for him to lose control. When the two others were there to stop him doing something completely and utterly stupid. Like going after whoever he thought had killed his blood sister. Because he would do it, and Toni knew that. As soon as he knew who it was that person was as good as dead – or people as the case may be.

Dyl took the passenger seat without an argument – which both worried and relieved Toni. Relieved because it meant he might finally be growing some common sense, worried because Dyl _always_ fought to drive, no matter what state of mind he was in. In his current state it would probably have only been a weakened protest, but there was nothing. She frowned. He was taking loosing Maria incredibly hard. He wasn't showing it, but that was just Dyl to a T. He _didn't_ overtly show how he was feeling, it was what he didn't do that gave him away.

The drive to the café was made in complete and utter silence, Dyl staring out of his window, arm rested along the edge of it, eyes clouded and faraway. Toni kept glancing over at him, she couldn't help it. She was concerned. He'd just lost his sister, his last living relative, that was going to take some time for him to get used to.

"Have any idea about funeral arrangements yet?" Toni asked as she parked the car.

"Barely had time to process the fact she's gone," Dyl shrugged, his voice tightly controlled. "I'll let you know what's happening."

"I'd appreciate that."

The two of them walked into the café, once again silent. Talking wasn't going to help while they were sober. They didn't do deep meaningful, emotional conversations sober, it meant they could actually be held accountable for their words and actions. Drunk, they could punch a wall and explain it away as an alcohol induced irrational action. Still, it was how they worked, it was how they survived when their work got tough and their lives got tougher. It helped them get out excess stress and emotions, helped them let go.

* * *

_And so…no Gibbs or team in this one, but threads are starting to interweave… Like? No like? Tell me what you think!!_


	4. AN: Apology

Major, major apologies!

This is just a note to say that due to making myself ill with stress from my school work, I won't be updating until after the end of March. I promise that when I finally _do_ get round to updating these stories I will try and have an influx ready to clutter up all my kind watchers email boxes. Once again, I apologize for this, and hope you will be patient with me.

Zee


End file.
